Tuesday, October 29, 2013

So Illustro Obscurum Volume VI went on sale and sold out within 2 hours on Friday! I'm thinking about doing a reprint of Volumes V & VI in the near future so comment if you're interested so I can gauge how many I should get made.

Also there was a bit of a delay with the interior pages of Volume VI, so if you purchased it Friday it'll be a few days later than usual. Normally when I have them up for sale on Friday, I ship them out on Monday but this batch won't go out until Thursday.

Finally, I spent the weekend in NYC doing some Halloween stuff and checked out a site that I think should be of interest to most HPL fans...Harry Houdini's grave! It's in an "abandoned" cemetery in Queens but it abuts 3 other cemeteries that are still in use, so if you can get into one you can easily walk into the others. Lovecraft famously ghost wrote Under the Pyramids for Houdini and I've been wanting to check out his grave for a while. Totally worth the trip!

I did the poster above and it features a Krampus, Schnappviecher, Namahage and Babugeri which are all creatures from different countries' winter festivals, and the rest of the pieces in the show will have similar topics.

Anyway, he's one of the most tireless and talented people I know and he's a huge inspiration to me. This piece is based off a character and creature from his epic wordless OVOYYAMAR comic which you should check out. You can also buy prints from him here and support an amazingly talented dude!

Friday, October 18, 2013

It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of one Yog-Blogsoth's official mascots. Pyewackett Peter Cushing passed away this morning due to heart failure. He was an awesome affectionate dude, and the loss is taking it's toll. There will be a brief hiatus before the next half week's illustrations and Illustro Obscurum Volume VI is available....

"For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange things
which men cannot see. He is the soul of antique Aegyptus, and bearer
of tales from forgotten cities in Meroe and Ophir. He is the kin of
the jungle’s lords, and heir to the secrets of hoary and sinister Africa.
The Sphinx is his cousin, and he speaks her language; but he is more
ancient than the Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath forgotten."

"These is a myth of Odin’s acquiring runes by
hanging on a tree and wounded by a spear, an offering to himself. He
bows his head and looks down, perhaps into the deep, and takes up the
runes, falling now from the tree to the ground. How he took up runes
while hanging is not clear: perhaps a magical act is intended."

"In other Eddic
attributes of Odin there is a further resemblance-his skill in arts,
his mastery in magic, his description as a traveller. Like Mercury he
was a god or
leader of the dead. Both gods were depicted with hat and staff."

"Here Odin rides, wearing a
broad-brimmed hat, he appeared as an old man, one-eyed, of sombre aspect, wearing a broad-brimmed hat, and wise of speech."

"Odin’s
ring, Draupnir, “Dropper,” made by the dwarf Sindri and given by his
brother to Odin, was so called because eight rings of the same weight
dropped from it every ninth night."John Arnott MacCulloch, The Mythology Of All Races

"The Scandinavian god Odin had human victims regularly offered to him, and these were put to death by being hung on a tree and stabbed with a spear. One of his titles was "God of the Hanged," or "Lord of the Gallows," and the Hamaval tells how when young, he was sacrificed to himself in the same way."The Forest In Folklore and Mythology, Alexander Porteous "I trow I hung on that windy Tree
nine whole days and nights, stabbed with a spear, offered to Odin, myself to mine own self given, high on that Tree of which none hath heard from what roots it rises to heaven."Hávamál

"In the Eddic poems he is “whitest of the gods,” and, like the Vanir, he knows the future.
Heimdall
is “the man mighty in arms,” and, as watchman of the gods, he has a
horn, the Gjallar-horn, which meanwhile rests under the ash Yggdrasil."

Snorri
combines much of this and gives further details about Heimdall. He is
“the white god,” great and holy, born of nine sisters. He is also called
Hallinskidi, “ram”,
and Gullintani, “Golden teeth.”

"Grimm compared Heimdall at Heaven’s
bridge to the angel guarding Paradise with a sword, and his horn blown
before the Doom to the
trumpet blown by the angel at the Last Day."John Arnott MacCulloch, The Mythology Of All Races

"Of all the gods, Heimdall has the closest connection with an animal, namey, the ram. According to Skáldskaparmál, a form of his name, Heimdali, is a word for ram, and Heimdali and Hallinskídi turn up in the thurlur for ram."Norse Mythology, John Lindow

"Valhalla is the great hall of Odin, wherein he feasts with his
chosen heroes, all those who have fallen bravely in battle, for
all who die a peaceful death are excluded. The flesh of the boar
Schrimnir is served up to them, and is abundant for all. For
although this boar is cooked every morning, he becomes whole again
every night."Thomas Bulfinch, Bulfinch's Mythology

"The wolf Fenrir, whos jaws stretch from heaven to earth, breaks his fetters' the Midgard Snake, spewing poison, rises from the sea; Naglfar, the Ship of the Dead, made of the uncut nails of dead men, breaks from her moorings down in Hel."Gwyn Jones, The Vikings

"The sea will rear up because Jormungand,
the Midgard Serpent, is twisting and writhing in fury as he makes his
way toward the land. With every breath, Jormungand will stain the soil
and the sky with his poison. The waves caused by the serpent's emerging
will set free the ship Naglfar, and with the giant Hymir as their commander, the giants will sail towards the battlefield."Micha F. Lindemans, Encyclopedia Mythica"Jormungand is not the only serpent in Norse mythology but he is much the most fearsome. He is so vast that he actually encircles Midgard; all humankind is caught within his coil as he lies on the ocean bed, biting on his own tail."Kevin Crossley-Holland, The Norse Myths

"Giant particularly associated with Ragnarok.""After the individual gods have fallen, Surt casts fire over the earth and burns the entire world. The name Surt is used in poetry as a general name for a giant. It meant something like "black," as if he were charred"John Lindow, Norse Mythology"The fire giants, led by Surt, come riding out of Muspell, and as they approach Asgard the rainbow bridge Bifrost cracks under their weight.""The sun grows dark, stars fall from the sky, the sea invades the land, Surt flings fire over all the world; heaven and earth, the whole universe are consumed, and Earth sinks into the sea."Gwyn Jones, The Vikings

"That one is called Surt, who sits there at the end of the world as a guardian. He has a burning sword, and at the end of the world he will travel and harry and defeat all the gods and burn the entire world with fire." Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning